As all of you have probably heard by now, David Bowie passed earlier this week. His death has really affected me in a way that no other celebrity death has. (I don't really see it as just a "celebrity" death, even.) David Bowie is one of the artists whose music has shaped who I am, whose music was the soundtrack to some significant chapters of my life. @ElusiveJ posted the perfect Tweet about this recently: "Thinking about how we mourn artists we've never met. We don't cry because we knew them, we cry because they helped us know ourselves."

I attended rehearsal for my play, THE SPINS, shortly after finding out about David Bowie. The timing seemed significant. In my play, a young musician named Lynn deals with the death of her brother as well as the more recent loss of a romantic relationship. In a drunken haze, a dead musician she idolizes spins her through dreams and memories (as represented by Dream Lynn) helping her to see how music can allow us to transcend loss, grief, sadness... even death. One of the major themes of my play is the way we all live on through our art. This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately: how David Bowie will live on through his music, how Alan Rickman will live on through his films, or even people you wouldn't think of as being artists will live on through the things they have created. Everyone creates something that will allow them to live on in other people's hearts and imaginations. I found myself thinking a lot about David Bowie and how much his music meant to me as I watched the actors rehearse.

I wrote the play in 2009 under the mentorship of Addae Moon and the Horizon Theatre Apprentice Company. (Shout out to my fellow playwrights, Tommy Jamerson and Josh Julian!) At times, revisiting the script has felt like looking at something someone else wrote. I suppose I was a different person in 2009 so maybe that's not an inaccurate way to look at it. But unlike other things I've written that I've looked back on years later, THE SPINS still seems to have a great deal that speaks to the truth of who I am, at all ages. Although the majority of the play is not autobiographical, the emotions of the characters definitely are, and it still feels like a very personal play.

Ever since I graduated from the University of New Orleans with my MFA in Playwriting in late 2012, I have been writing young adult fiction. (I can never just stick to one thing, you know. I'm always jumping in between plays, films, performing, music, novels, poetry, even sometimes painting--though not very well.) But attending rehearsals for THE SPINS has reminded me of a certain kind of magic that is found only in theatre. It's been such a treat to watch how Julian Verner has directed this incredibly talented cast, how they have all added their own unique interpretations of these characters, and how the rest of the team has worked so diligently to create something really special. I am so blessed that Carolyn Choe and the Out of Box team chose to add my play to their season. I adore everything I've seen there. And although I am feeling nervous and vulnerable in a way that is exclusive to playwrights, I think, I can't wait to see how everything comes together next week.

THE SPINS opens on Friday, January 22 and runs through Sunday, January 31, and I hope all of you who are in the Atlanta area will come see it. It means a great deal to me to be able to share these messages with others. For tickets, please visit the Out of Box website.

Most people know I am obsessed with making year-end lists. I have made lists of my favorite albums for the past six years (2009 - 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - 2013 - 2014). This year I decided to do a video over on my YouTube channel. For a brief explanation and brief clip from each album, check it out (And subscribe to my channel!)

Last week, I went to The Writing Barn for a writing residency for young adult and middle grade authors with Nova Ren Suma. I had an amazing experience. I got to work with nine other young adult/middle grade writers (all of which were very talented and lovely people in general), attend several craft lectures given by other authors where we talked about everything from world building to writing great openings to character development. The atmosphere at the Writing Barn was incredible. It was so quiet and peaceful, there were lots of places to sit outside and write, there were even four or five deer always scampering around. I wrote about 12,000 words total last week, and I basically spent every moment writing, talking about writing, talking to other writers. It was amazing.

My work in progress is a time travel story that focuses a lot on a mother/daughter relationship. Music plays a big part in the novel. None of the characters are musicians, but they all have a unique love for music that ties in with their ability to time travel, and one of the themes of the novel is the importance of embracing who you really are. In my first version of the story, though, I shied away from making music an important part of my novel.

Everything I write is about music in some way, it seems. My play, THE SPINS, is about a musician. My debut young adult novel, WE OWN THE SKY, is about a musician. I was afraid people would get sick of it, and I was trying to tone down the music in my current work in progress because of that.

It's funny how the things we write mirror what is going on in our own lives. One of my characters needs to embrace who she is, and I need to embrace who I am. I decided that I shouldn't shy away from making music an important part of this novel. Maybe it's okay that music is such an important part of everything I write because music is an important part of who I am. I might not be an active musician who plays shows these days, but I still think in terms of music. I'm still the person who is secretly identifying the song and the artist every time there is background music playing in a restaurant. I'm still the person whose understands other people better when I know what their favorite albums, songs, or musicians are. I'm still the person who started a YouTube channel to talk about books and writing and had to squeeze a weekly video series about music in there. I'm still the person who listens to music in the shower and makes playlists every day.

It's true that not everyone wants to read about music or musicians. Not everyone will connect with that kind of story. But this is true of any story or subject matter. Some authors like to write about vampires. Some authors like to write about witches. Some authors like to write about romance. We all write about the things that matter to us. And some people will connect with our stories, and some won't. And that's okay! The beautiful thing about books is that there will definitely be at least one story out there that speaks to every person in this world. So why can't I be an author who likes to write about music and the different ways it affects us?

One of the best things I learned last week was that I need to shift my focus back to the actual work. So much of being an artist--whether you are a writer, a musician, an actor, a painter--is about luck, being in the right place at the right time, knowing the right people. Over the past couple of years, I've had so much focus on getting my book published. There is so much in the world of publishing that is beyond my control. But I do have control over the work itself. Writing. Creating. At the end of the week, we painted rocks and wrote a word on our rocks that symbolized what we gained from the residency. (My rock is pictured above. My word was create.) But it's when we embrace who we are and what kinds of things we like to paint or write or sing that we can truly be creative. So that's what I've been trying to do. And maybe I don't have a book traditionally published yet, and maybe I didn't ever "make it" with my band, and maybe I will always have to do other work to make a living, but you know what? I'll always be writing. No matter what. And there's a good chance that someone in my stories will have a guitar.

As some of you may know, I have been editing a collection of stories and poems from the congregation of Unity North Atlanta Church, and I'm happy to tell you that the book has a release date! COMING HOME: A COLLECTION OF INSPIRATIONAL STORIES AND POEMS FROM UNITY NORTH ATLANTA CHURCH will be officially released on Sunday, July 12th! We will be having a little book release party after second service in the Holy Grounds Cafe at Unity North Atlanta Church on July 12th. Come enjoy some refreshments and pick up your copy!

The book will be available in print and in e-book formats, and it will be on sale at Unity North Atlanta Church as well as on Amazon. We will also be selling pre-orders after second service starting this Sunday (6/7) so come by the Holy Grounds Cafe and pre-order your copy. (That is the only way you will for sure have a copy in your hands on the release date as we certainly might sell out that day.)

I'm really excited to get this book to our congregation and out into the world. It's a very heartwarming and touching collection of stories and poems that will be sure to uplift and inspire! I can't wait for you to be able to read it!

We're just going to ignore the fact that this picture is, like, 8 years old. I've been writing too much lately to stop and take pictures of myself. But I thought it was appropriate for this post!

Hello, blogosphere! It's been a while! What have I been up to?

Writing, writing, and more writing. Oh, and then some freelance editing for other writers, reading books, and making some videos about writing. And then more writing. It's an exciting life!

I had some great news recently when Out of Box Theatre in Marietta, Georgia announced they will be performing my play, THE SPINS, in January 2016! I am very, very excited about this. I wrote THE SPINS in 2009 during my apprenticeship at Horizon Theatre. It was then a finalist in The Essential Theatre Playwriting Contest in 2011, and it had a staged reading as part of the Essential Theatre Festival that summer. So it's been a long time coming. I have loved every play I've seen at Out of Box, and I especially love how they produce so many plays by Georgia playwrights so I can't wait to see what they do with it.

Update on my young adult novel series: I have changed the name of the first book from THE MUSES to WE OWN THE SKY, Book One in THE MUSE CHRONICLES. My agent is still working hard to find the best publisher for the book, and it has gone through a lot of edits and revisions since I first started writing it in the fall of 2012. I am confident that my agent, Marie, will find the perfect home for the trilogy in the right and perfect time. I wrote 50,000 words of the first draft of the second book in November for NaNoWriMo, and I am working hard to shape that into a presentable complete draft that I can show to my critique partners and beta readers. (I'm actually looking for a new critique partner or two. E-mail me at sara@saracrawford.net if you are interested!) The second book is called HURRY UP, WE'RE DREAMING. (You music freaks will probably recognize the allusions to M83 here. This is on purpose!)

Other than that, I've been blogging for websites like HelloGiggles, PickTheBrain, and LifeHack as well as maintaining my own writing blog. Speaking of the writing blog, I've decided to only use that blog for posts about writing. I'll be saving all of the posts about my own writing journey and my artistic career for this blog (which means I'll actually be using this blog regularly again!).

For those of you who are writers, you may be interested in the new mailing list I have started, The Daily Writer. Subscribers of this mailing list receive daily writing inspiration in the form of tips, prompts, thoughts, inspirational quotes, interesting reads, and more! Subscribe and join in the fun. Subscribers also get a free copy of my e-book, THE 30-DAY WRITING CHALLENGE: BEGIN OR ENHANCE YOUR DAILY WRITING HABIT. Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel as well. I'm actually making videos again!

That's all for now. I'll be updating this thing more often from now on! Stay tuned!

I was not alone in my joy earlier this week when Bjork decided to surprise us all by releasing her new album, Vulnicura, on iTunes, and I've been listening to the album on repeat ever since. Unlike 2011's Biophilia,Vulnicura is a deeply personal journey through heartbreak and ultimately, liberation. The album sounds like something of a musical diary where Bjork explores pain and heartache, motherhood and family, as well as finding clarity.

Co-producing the album with Arca and Haxan Cloak, Bjork was integral to much of the instrumentation on Vulnicura. She wrote and arranged all of the string parts for the album and collaborated with Arca to produce the record, adding Haxan Cloak to mix the album. When news first broke that Bjork would be releasing the album, though, it was misreported that Arca was the sole producer. Arca insisted on clearing up the matter on Twitter, when he tweeted, “just to clarify! rather than ‘sole producing,’ Bjork and I are co-producing music together!”

This isn't the first time this has happened to Bjork either. In a recent interview with Pitchfork, she explained, "I did 80% of the beats on Vespertine and it took me three years to work on that album, because it was all microbeats—it was like doing a huge embroidery piece. Matmos came in the last two weeks and added percussion on top of the songs, but they didn’t do any of the main parts, and they are credited everywhere as having done the whole album."

Being a female musician, writer, and artist, this is an issue that is very personal to me. I have experienced sexism in the music industry—from the sound technician who would only talk to my male bandmates during sound check to the house manager who informed me “girlfriends weren’t allowed backstage” not realizing that I was one of the performers. And I can’t even count the number of shows I’ve played where I was the only female on the bill.

The good news is that this is an issue that is being brought to the forefront and more female musicians are refusing to be erased. Bjork went on to tell Pitchfork, "I didn’t want to talk about that kind of thing for 10 years, but then I thought, 'You’re a coward if you don’t stand up. Not for you, but for women. Say something.'" Speaking out about the need for female artists to be respected and credited the way male artists are is the first step towards progress. It gives me hope to see popular artists like Taylor Swift and Beyonce speaking out for gender equality and feminism.

Bjork closes out the interview by saying, “I definitely can feel the third or fourth feminist wave in the air, so maybe this is a good time to open that Pandora’s box a little bit and air it out.” We can only hope that the next generation of female artists will follow in Bjork’s footsteps.

One of the best things about this time of year is making my "best of" year-end lists! It's time for my favorite 14 albums of 2014! This year was a great year for music. There were so many albums that I absolutely loved, and I saw a number of really great shows. So, let's get started with the list!

14. Pe'ahi by The Raveonettes

Listen to "Sisters"

I first heard this Danish indie rock duo in 2011 so I was excited to see a new release from them this year, and Pe'ahi definitely didn't disappoint. In addition to their usual melodic, distorted guitar sounds and ambient, haunting vocals, they've added complex instrumentation to their sound on this album.

If you know anything about me, you know how much I love Beck's Sea Change from 2002. Morning Phase sounds like the sequel to Sea Change. It's basically amazing. I don't think I need to say anything else because Beck.

Peter Silberman has one of the best voices of our time. His vocal control is absolutely amazing. The way he goes from his head voice to chest voice/belt is flawless. Be prepared to get completely lost in the instrumentation and the layers of sound on this record. The songwriting is also quite superb.

If you follow me on any social media, it's probably not a shock that this Canadian indie pop band has my favorite album of 2014. This album has a mix of fun and upbeat rock songs you can dance around to and deep, emotional, nostalgic ballads. Songs like "Party Police" will break your heart while songs like "Archie, Marry Me" will have you jumping up and down singing along.

So there you have it. My favorite albums from 2014. Yes, there are a lot of albums on this list that fans of Slowdive, Beach House, and M83 would like. But what do you expect? Those are literally three of my favorite bands. I do recognize there were a lot of killer releases this year in other genres (Prince, Skrillex, D'Angelo... hey even that Taylor Swift album was pretty legit) but these are the ones that I listened to the most. These were the albums that made up the soundtrack to my 2014.

STORYBOARDS, my young adult contemporary novella is now available as an e-book on Amazon for just $0.99!

Here's the description:

Teenage filmmaker, Paige Lawson--also known as an “unintentional matchmaker”-- is making her first short film for her college admissions portfolio when her ex-boyfriend-turned-best-friend starts dating the lead actress in her movie. She is forced to overcome the personal difficulties the relationship brings up for her in an attempt to complete her film, but she's not sure if she is strong enough to do what needs to be done.

Unless you've been living in a hole (or outside of Atlanta), you probably know that the iconic Georgia State University radio station Album 88 WRAS is in danger. A couple of months ago, it was announced that Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) would be taking over WRAS between the hours of 5:00 AM and 7:00 PM and the college students would broadcast online during those hours.

Naturally, people all over Atlanta are upset about this, especially given that most of the programming GPB plans to play is either already on the air on WABE 90.1 (Atlanta's NPR station) or available to stream online. This takeover was supposed to happen on June 2nd but was delayed to June 29th. So in a last-ditch effort to stop this, the Save WRAS Facebook page asked people to:

Email the following individuals demanding the GPB contract be canceled in favor of the stronger Album 88 Alumni proposal:Mark Becker GSU PresidentMBecker@gsu.edu

Douglass CoveyGSU VP Student AffairsDCovey@gsu.edu

Teya RyanGPB CEOTRyan@gpb.org

Please cc WRAStrong@gmail.com with all your correspondence.

Please Tweet, FB, Instagram and email friends to support the Album 88 Alumni proposal to keep WRAS-Atlanta student-run and over the airwaves. Use #SaveWRAS & #WRAStrong

So I composed a letter, and I thought I would share it with you here.

Dear Mark Becker, Douglass Covey, and Teya Ryan:

My name is Sara Crawford. I am a 29-year-old singer/songwriter and author living in Marietta. I never attended Georgia State University, but Album 88 WRAS was a very big part of my college experience. I remember all of the times I drove to my classes at Kennesaw State University, listening to the exciting new music on Album 88. In a landscape of bland commercial radio stations in Atlanta that play the same 50 songs over and over again, Album 88 is extremely refreshing. It is the only radio station a metro Atlanta resident can turn to to hear new music, a wide variety of music, local music from fellow Georgians, and a student-run iconic radio station that has lasted 40 years.

As someone who has been active in the Atlanta music scene, there is a special place in my heart for Album 88. I will never forget how it felt to turn on the Georgia Music Show and hear my song "Cyclone" on the radio for the very first time. It's getting harder and harder for independent musicians to get their music out there, and without stations like Album 88, it would be so much more difficult. This station has been an integral part of the whole music scene in Atlanta. It has helped launch many different careers throughout the past four decades--both of musicians and radio personalities alike.

I have discovered SO many bands on Album 88. Bands like Stars, Dark Dark Dark, Faces on Film, Laura Reed and Deep Pocket, Freelance Whales...I could go on. These bands have meant the world to me. They have been there for me in difficult times. There is a certain kind of magic when you are driving around as an adolescent, having a really horrible day, and you hear that perfect song at the perfect time on the radio. That never happens on 105.7 or 94.1 or 98.5 or any of the other stations in Atlanta because every time I turn them on, it's that same song from 1999 that we've all heard 1800 times and has no meaning anymore.

Sure, there are a lot of other outlets for music these days. Spotify, Last FM, Pandora. And I use these sometimes. But there is still a place for analog radio--especially in the car. I can't tell you how many memories I have of driving around listening to Album 88 or driving out of town and listening until it fades away (which usually takes a while).

I understand that this deal would still allow GSU students to play music at night time on Album 88 and stream online. However, this is not enough. The prime radio times are the commute to and from work, and WRAS should be available during those times! The online streaming is great, but when Album 88 is only available online, it is in direct competition with Spotify, Pandora, etc. and will lose listeners.

Furthermore, WE ALREADY HAVE an outlet for NEWS and NPR in ATLANTA. 90.1 WABE is a great radio station that I listen to often. It is my understanding that a lot of the programming you are planning to play on GPB/WRAS is ALREADY BEING PLAYED on 90.1. We don't need two radio stations playing the exact same thing in Atlanta! No one wants this.

Lastly, I truly believe that Album 88 WRAS as it stands right now is much more beneficial for students who want to learn about radio, be a part of an iconic radio station, and participate in everything that makes the Atlanta music scene great. Shouldn't you be doing what is best for the students of Georgia State University? If you took a poll, I guarantee you 99.9% of Georgia State Students would not be in favor of this plan.

If you take away WRAS, you are taking away one of the most special things about Atlanta culture. You are taking away the last remaining decent outlet for new music in Atlanta radio. You are depriving Atlanta residents from being able to discover new, independent bands, and you are depriving the musicians of one precious outlet to reach people with their music. Please cancel the contract.

The Album 88 Alumni have created a well-written proposal that would be a much better compromise and a much better solution for the future of WRAS. Please read it and re-consider. http://savewras.com/proposal/

Thank you,

Sara Crawford

Please e-mail, tweet, FB, instagram, all of the above! Use the hashtag #SaveWRAS and #WRAStrong

On Friday, I am playing a show at Smith's Olde Bar in the Atlanta Room. Friday is also my 29th birthday. Geoff Goodwin (my former bandmate from Pocket the Moon) and Noah Dennis are joining me on drums and bass, I will have other guests artists joining me, there will be cupcakes, and it will generally be a great time! Juliana Finch is playing before me, and Aaron Edward will close out the night. Come at 8:00 pm for Juliana Finch, I'm playing at 9:00 pm, and stick around for Aaron Edward at 10:00.

I keep telling people this will be "my last show in this context." What does that mean?

Last year, around this time, I talked about how I was going to focus on my writing and take the focus off of music. I think this was definitely a wise decision, but I have really struggled with it. Being a "musician" became such a deeply ingrained part of my identity, and when I started saying things like, "well, I used to be a musician" or "I'm not really doing the music thing anymore," that created a lot of pain for me. There was so much sadness in this idea of "giving up" music. I felt like I had given up--like I had been defeated. I was driving to the gym one day, and I randomly turned on the first track of Pocket the Moon, the 2011 album that Geoff and I wrote and performed. I ended up driving around Marietta for an hour, listening to the whole album, and having an emotional breakdown. It was like post-breakup sobbing. And I was weeping for a loss in a way. I was weeping for a lost part of myself.

I used to have these dreams that one day, I would "make it" as an indie singer/musician. I never wanted to be selling out Phillips Arena or anything, but I thought that maybe one day if I worked hard enough, I could sell out the Variety Playhouse. But show after show to 10 or 12 people at Smith's Olde Bar or The Earl or other random venues in the Atlanta area--it all wore me down. I was having all of this success as a writer and I wasn't seeing much success as a musician. So I decided that I needed to focus on my writing and think of music as sort of a hobby. And there was a lot of pain for me in this decision because it felt like I was giving up. It felt like no one appreciated the sad songs that I wrote so I was just going to stop writing them and singing them. I realized, though, that that is not the way I should be looking at it. "Making it" as any type of artist requires a lot of passion, energy, hard work, and dedication. I was trying to "make it" as a writer and a musician, and I didn't have enough energy to spend on both things. It's like Ron Swanson says on Parks and Recreation: "Never half ass two things. Whole ass one thing." And I felt like that's what I needed to do with my writing.

So. I may still sing at Unity or write songs or share covers on YouTube. I may still participate in things like 500 Songs for Kids or play at a friend's wedding. I may even write or put out another album in the future. And I might even play another show at some point if someone just asks me to play a set to a crowd that will already be there and I don't have to do any of my own marketing or expect to "bring a crowd." But this is the last time I will be playing a show like this--in this context. This is the last time I will be playing at Smith's Olde Bar (or a venue like it) in Atlanta--putting together the bill, inviting my friends and family, doing all of my own promotion/marketing, etc. This may be the last time that I play the songs from Unsent Letters and Pocket the Moon live.

But the truth is that even if no one else does appreciate my music, I am proud of the songs I have written, and I love them. And I know that there are other people who love them, too. I have had people tell me that certain songs I have written really helped them through difficult periods in their lives. I have had people tell me that they were incredibly touched by songs that I have written. Sometimes, it's just hard to hang onto those comments. When you write quiet or reflective music, it's often the quiet and reflective people that are touched by your songs. Just because you don't see how they affect or inspire people doesn't mean that they aren't.

It's like this poetry exercise I did recently where we were supposed to write an inspiring or uplifting poem and leave it in some random place for a stranger to find. I did so. Now, this poem could have ended up in the trash--read by no one--or it could have stopped someone from committing suicide. I have no way of knowing. But the point was that I put it out into the world, and it was beautiful. And that is how I think of my music these days. And that is what I will be celebrating on Friday--along with my birthday. And I hope that you will join me.

Not to be pretentious and quote my own lyrics, here, but it really is like the end of "Rooftops."

It's all a dream to me if we just leave it behind.I hope that you will help me to remember it all.